Guard Duty

Callum tossed and turned as he laid on his bed. He tried to close his eyes and get some sleep, but his mind was racing.

Eventually, he got up and got dressed. Amarok woke up as he opened the door, the large wolf cracked open an eye and observed Callum sneaking out of the room; he rolled over on his large pillow as he closed his eye.

A minute later, Callum was leaning against the battlements on the roof. He enjoyed the beauty as the twin moons bathed the valley with a soft glow. A small sense of peace enveloped him as he enjoyed the brisk air of the clear night.

His lack of emotional response after the executions was bothering him. He thought that he should feel something; instead there was nothing and that bothered him more than the executions themselves did.

He had had a similar lack of reaction when he had killed his first sentient being when he saved the Baroness' party. He felt a mix of pity, elation, and grim acceptance when his axe cut through that man, but they were subdued. It was almost as if he was detached.

Yet, the images were seared into his brain. He could recall everything that they were wearing and their facial expressions as the axe bit into them. It was almost as if someone had frozen time right before their deaths and he had studied each scene for days.

And yet, he felt very little.

He wasn't sure if he had become inured to death because of the livestock butchering at the farm, or if killing hundreds of goblins had robbed him of his humanity.

He didn't regret the killings, especially those of the prisoners that he had executed; they had earned their deaths many times over by their own actions.

Those that died on the battlefield knew they were taking a chance when they signed up for Count Yonge's army, joined a mercenary band, or took up a life of crime. They rolled the dice with their very lives and came up short.

Callum gave up and decided to see if one of the healers was still up and in the main hall. They usually had a cantrip or spell designed to induce drowsiness or clear the mind; usually they were used to help treat patients, but he just wanted to be able to sleep.

As he was walking back to the door leading down off the roof, he noticed that one of the two guards was shivering in the cold night air. They had thankfully left him alone when he came out.

"When will your shift be over?" Callum asked the man.

"We've been on duty for two hours and we have another two hours to go, your Lordship," the guard stuttered.

Callum wasn't sure if the cold was affecting his speech or if the guard was simply nervous.

"Hmm, go inside and sit by a fire in the main hall and maybe find something hot to eat. You can come back in fifteen or twenty minutes, I'll cover your shift until then," Callum said.

The guard tried to protest, but Callum insisted that he was here anyway and so the guard should take advantage of it. Eventually, the guard reluctantly sought shelter inside and Callum patrolled the rooftop with the other guard.

"Thank you for doing that, he doesn't have any cold resistance in his class bonuses and there isn't enough warm clothing to go around," the other guard said after they had silently completed a couple of circuits around the battlements.

Callum nodded his head absently and gave a perfunctory response.

His mind was racing though, something the guard had said triggered a memory.

He quickly brought up his class bonuses and saw what he was looking for, +20% Mental Resistance; it had slipped his mind that he had that bonus, but the guard's mention of class bonuses helped him recall his own bonuses.

'Hopefully that fully explains my lack of response. Even if that's a lie, I'm going to pretend that the resistance completely explains things,' Callum thought to himself.

Truth or lie, he had an excuse for his thoughts, and that was all Callum needed. He slept soundly when he finally returned to his bed.

_____

Alea and Ravi were watching the pass while the rest of them enjoyed the warmth of a small fire; the fire hardly left a trace of smoke thanks to some judicious usage of the <Dry> cantrip on the firewood.

Those around the campfire were telling funny or embarrassing stories they had witnessed or experienced. Alea was on the ground cackling like a mad woman as Callum concluded his story about the lynx's revenge.

Tears were in her eyes as she struggled to breath. Callum never expected the usually tough as nails Alea's giggle to sound so femininie.

It had been a couple of days since the execution and it was their party's turn to watch the entrance and the main pass for signs of their enemies. Everyone in the castle continued to do what they could to level up and stock up for a potential siege.

Although some continued to advocate for a more aggressive posture and active patrols, Callum thought that they were simply getting tired of hiding out in this side valley.

Most people understood that they were still outnumbered and had gotten lucky with the breakout attempts. It would be unwise to expect their enemy not to have taken some measures in response to losing some of their patrols.

They would likely be operating their patrols much closer together, strengthened them, or possibly both.

Jin had counseled that they could take a more aggressive approach once they had been found, anything they did before then would simply cut down on their time to prepare.

Another hunt led by Amarok was planned for the next day; all of the meat from the previous hunt was almost fully processed by the cooks and butchers. Smaller parties of hunters continued to bring in more meat on a daily basis.

Upon Callum's recommendation, Xinyi had changed up the nightly guard. Previously, there were two guards on the battlements and two others watched the locked doors from inside the entrance hall to ensure no one tried to sneak in or out.

Now, the guards would rotate halfway through their four hour shift. First a guard from the main entrance would walk up to the post on top and send one of those guards down, then the process repeated.

Additionally, some warm cloaks were set aside to be used by the nightly guards.

Alea collected herself and Boren was just launching into a story of his own that Callum was sure would involve copious amounts of alcohol; all of his stories seemed to involve lots of alcohol.

'You would think a dwarf would be better at handling his hard liquor,' Callum thought to himself, right before he noticed that Amarok's ears rotated forward and his head shot up.

"So, I told that half-orc that I could drink him under the . . . ", Boren obliviously continued.

'I knew it!' Callum thought to himself before he interrupted Boren's story, "Wait, Amarok is sensing something."

By this point, Amarok was standing on all four paws and was busy sniffing at the slight breeze. Thanks to their link, Callum knew that Amarok wasn't sure what he was smelling. Whatever it was, it wasn't one of the sentient races that they had fought or were in the castle.

"I think what he's smelling is a monster of some kind, and it's alone. I don't think he's come across this before, " Callum said as the Dire Wolf continued to suss out the scent he was picking up on.

"Come on, let's go warn the others and keep a close eye on the entrance," Alea said as she turned to walk further up the point.

Their camp was located a short distance down on the reverse side of the hill to keep it from being spotted. Those on watch duty were hiding in the trees up at the top.

Once up there, they warned the others; Callum indicated where Amarok was picking up the scent from. Several minutes later, Alea hissed and pointed at something moving among the trees.

Callum didn't see it at first, but he eventually noticed movement where Alea was pointing. It was large whatever it was, and it was white and grey; perfect camouflage for the wintry landscape.

"Oh shit!" Osmar exclaimed, "I think it's an ice or snow lindwurm."

Everyone, including Callum, shot each other nervous glances. There were tales about lindwurms rampaging through entire villages; they were vindictive and seemed to enjoy basking in the blood of their victims.

"Osmar, send the signal, we're going to need backup," Ravi gravely said as they observed the lindwurm enter their side valley.